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Year 10
AQA

String handling

I can use string handling techniques to find things out about a string.

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New
New
Year 10
AQA

String handling

I can use string handling techniques to find things out about a string.

Download all resources
Share activities with pupils

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. A string is a collection of characters.
  2. String handling is using techniques and built-in functions to find out information about strings.
  3. The len() function is used to return the length of a string.
  4. The index number is used to retrieve a single character from a specified position in a string.
  5. For loops can be used to iterate through some or all of the items in a string.

Keywords

  • String handling - how programs manipulate text through operations like joining, searching and formatting

  • Index - the location of items or elements in a list, array or string

  • For loop - an iterative statement that will repeat for the length of a given sequence

Common misconception

Operations in programs can only be performed on numbers.

Operations can be performed on different types of data. What the operator does can change depending on the data type it is being used with.


To help you plan your year 10 computer science lesson on: String handling, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

String handling can be used is conjunction with file reading. Extend program to read a text file and process each line using some of the functions in the lesson.
Teacher tip

Equipment

All pupils requires access to devices that can edit and run Python programs. Starter code files are available to copy or use directly via the Raspberry Pi Code Editor.

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What does a for loop do in Python?

checks if a condition is true or false
stops the program
Correct answer: executes a block of code repeatedly for a specific range or sequence
converts a string to a number

Q2.
What does
range(5)
generate in Python?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Correct answer: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Q3.
What is the purpose of an if statement in Python?

to repeat a block of code
to stop the program
to create a loop
Correct answer: to check a condition and execute code if it's true

Q4.
Which of these is not a valid condition in an if statement?

x == 5
x <= 5
Correct answer: `x + 1`
x < 0

Q5.
What does the else part of an if statement do?

executes code when the condition is True
executes code when the condition is True
Correct answer: executes code when the condition is False
stops the program if the condition is True

Q6.
Match the terms with their definitions.

Correct Answer:for loop,executes a block of code repeatedly for a sequence

executes a block of code repeatedly for a sequence

Correct Answer:if statement,checks a condition and executes code if it's True

checks a condition and executes code if it's True

Correct Answer:else,executes code when the if condition is False

executes code when the if condition is False

Assessment exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is the term for a collection of characters enclosed in quotes in Python?

Correct Answer: string, a string

Q2.
What is the index number of the first character in a string in Python?

Correct Answer: 0, zero

Q3.
What will
len("Quiz")
return?

0
1
2
3
Correct answer: 4

Q4.
What happens when you use a for loop with a string?

Each word in the string is printed.
Correct answer: Each character in the string is processed one by one.
The string is reversed.
The string is converted to numbers.

Q5.
Which of these is not a valid operation on a string?

indexing to retrieve characters
iterating through the string with a loop
Correct answer: dividing the string by a number
finding the length of the string

Q6.
Which of the following is true about operations in Python?

Operations can only be performed on numbers.
Operations can only be performed on strings.
Operations cannot be performed on either numbers or strings.
Correct answer: Operations can be performed on both numbers and strings.